1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a static temporary storage device for motor vehicle body parts.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the present description, the term “body part” means a part made of plastics material or of metal that belongs to the visible outer shell of a motor vehicle. A body part may comprise a single piece, or it may be constituted by an assembly of a plurality of pieces, and it may be bare or it may be fitted with components.
In particular, the term “bumper skin” is used to mean a body part forming a front or rear shield for a motor vehicle, the shield being made up of a single piece of plastics material or of metal or of an assembly of such pieces, and the term is used regardless of the fabrication stage of the part, i.e. regardless of whether the body part is partially or completely finished.
Document FR 2 895 375 A1 discloses a device for storing bumper skins, which device enables the bumper skins to be transported while protecting them effectively against scratching or marking.
The bumper skins are packaged in protective covers that are suspended individually from a rack having horizontal rails, each rack being slidable along the rails to enable the bumper skins to be loaded and unloaded on and off the storage device. The storage device is designed to be loaded on a transport vehicle to convey bumper skins according to a conventional logistics system. In the cited prior art, the protective covers serve not only to protect the bumper skins, but also to enable a larger number of bumper skins to be loaded in each storage device.
The present invention relates to a static temporary storage device for motor vehicle body parts. Such a device is useful on the manufacturing site of parts in order to complete an intermediate or final treatment method, e.g. in order to allow the parts to cool or to allow a coating to harden, and/or to store them while waiting to be sent to a mounting site on a vehicle.
Static temporary storage devices for bumper skins are in particular:
stationary shelves, the bumper skins being placed in the position they are to occupy on a vehicle in specially storage conditions; or
sheets suspended from stationary racks; or
stationary horizontal bars on which the bumper skins are placed with their overriders pointing downwards.
In those known devices, the bumper skins are stored so as to best protect them, but at a storage density that is not optimized. In addition, handling of the devices in order to transport them to a mounting site constitutes an operation that is relatively burdensome, possibly requiring the use of power-lift trucks (also known as fork-lift trucks).